The San

Sessions from DoS Conference

2012-01-24T14:54:00.001+01:00

Videos from this year's DoS Conference - http://ihworld.com/videoIncluding - Jeremy HarmerPhilip KerrMarin ParrottLuke MeddingsNicky HocklyChia Suan ChongMaureen McGarveyNick KileyMonica GreenMaurice CassidyAnna Csiky& IH Milan's Mike Riley

Feedback

2011-12-06T17:26:00.001+01:00

Here are the slides from Tania's session

Lexical Soup

2011-12-06T17:07:00.001+01:00

Here are the slides from my session -

Magnus Material - Guest Post - Magnus Coney

2011-12-06T17:06:00.001+01:00

Here's the link to my presentation:

http://prezi.com/by84eahjcxne/how-we-learn/

And the activities we did for task/text repetition in the mingle:

Reduce the amount of time available to do the task each time. For example 4-3-2 minutes.

Strip the text of grammar, leaving only content words. Students reconstruct the text.

Include a lie/mistake next time they do the task, partner tries to guess what it is.

Read text aloud to students with 10 differences. They follow with/without a copy of the text, make a note or stop you at an error.

Change the style-more formal/informal. E.G. a restaurant role play could change from being in a Michelin-starred place to the local Autogrill.

Put text on board, students ask you questions about it. Rub off parts of text you use in answers, student have to make text disappear.

Students change the genre/setting-redo the task as a news report, as if they are in a taxi etc.

Students present the text as a news report/presentation etc

Give students piece of paper with personality adjective they must ‘become’ while doing the task.

Students find a text on same topic, look for any vocabulary that is used in both.

For 121 classes-when students have told you a short anecdote/story etc, tell it back to them with your corrections (or extensions if it was already good). They then retell it incorporating your suggestions. Repeat as necessary.

Cut text up (paragraphs/sentences/clauses), students reconstruct.

Students mingle to find someone with most similar answers to the task.

Take out all the prepositions/articles etc from the text, students reconstruct.

Students change form-If it was a speaking task, they do it again but write their questions/answers on slips of paper.

Students make comprehension questions for text, swap with partner.

Students silently dictate their answers to partner (good for pron-they have to exaggerate mouth movements so partner can understand).

Students have 2 minutes to copy out as much of the text as possible.

Give students a word to use in the task. Each time they repeat give them another word, (to use alongside or in place of previous word).

Dictate sentences from text with errors. Ss write down with corrections.

Ss make notes of their errors on slips of paper. Repeat the task, turn the slips of paper over as they use the correct form.

For the writing workshop:

Activity 1: Paper interviews

Tell Ss in one sentence something you have done recently, like "On Saturday i went skiing". Hand out slips of paper to each pair of students. Tell them to write questions to find out more information about your ski trip. As soon as they have written the first question they can pass it to you. If it's correct, you wriet an asnwers. If it's not, send it back, perhaps with a clue on what's wrong.

When all the groups have asked you enough questions, stop the activity and get them to write about your ski trip using the info they have. Then they can swap texts with other groups to compare what information they have. Work on corrections, rewrites etc.

Activity 2: Postcards

Pass a world map round. Each student randomly picks a secret destination by closing their eyes and putting their finger on the map. When all students have one, hand out postcards, and tell them to write to someone else in the class as if they are on holiday. They cannot explicitly mention the place, but can drop various clues. Younger learners could also draw a picture on the other side. Then 'send' the postcard, and the recipient has to guess where the writer is on holiday.

Activity 3: Multiple personalities

Students work in pairs or threes and compare (for example) their ideal Saturday. They make notes with time references (e.g. morning-have a lie in). Then write a text about the ideal Saturday in the first person singular, combining the different elements of each partner. For example my wake-up time, John's favourite breakfast, Mary's morning coffee becomes "I wake up around 9 o'clock and have bacon and eggs at the cafe round the corner...".

Groups then swap texts and decide which elements correspond to which of the other students.

IH Milan COnference 2011 - Italian Strand

2011-11-22T17:49:00.001+01:00

Here are the slides from the Italian strand. Thanks Cristina, Silvia & Valentina!

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B1K_S5vlcmaCMTczMzE2NzUtYzc3Ni00MTJiLTk1YjctZmJmMTI1NjY1ZTJj

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qNAizYaukHa6FWqUweCJbPqpnssx3YpUz7bKY8_h58A/edit

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wYBClIzotTVVnOAZK_G0XZbPg_Cs_9_lonETI-qStBA/edit

IH Milan Conference 2011 - Jamie Keddie

2011-11-03T12:13:00.000+01:00

Here are the links for Jamie's presentation at our conference -

http://lessonstream.org/2011/01/10/the-blob-on-the-bridge/

https://docs.google.com/open?id=1d6Y7aL92vEYvyt20-9pl0FXG20ae-SDahKFLE3cXb4DYbbbXi1SFJC0BVPkG

IH Milan Conference 2011 - Kate Knight

2011-11-03T09:38:00.001+01:00

Here are the slides from Kate's talk at our conference -

iUniv

2011-11-03T09:06:00.001+01:00

Interetsing collection of over 60,000 lectures

http://iuniv.tv/

IH Milan Conference 2011 - Tania Vaz

2011-10-27T16:29:00.000+01:00

Here are the slides from Tania's presentation at our conference -

IH Milan Conference 2011 - Mike Riley

2011-10-27T16:09:00.002+01:00

Here are the details from Mike Riley's talk at our conference -

http://www.boxofcrayons.biz/books-products/do-more-great-work/

IH Milan Conference 2011 - Vicky Taylor

2011-10-26T11:06:00.000+01:00

Here are the slides from Vicky Taylor's presentation at our conference -

IH Milan Conference 2011 - Babeth Cartwright

2011-10-25T16:19:00.001+01:00

Here are the slides from Babeth Cartwright's presentation at our conference.

IH Milan Conference 2011 - Roger Hunt

2011-10-25T16:01:00.000+01:00

Here are the slides from Roger Hunt's presentation at this year's IH Milan conference.

Great site for Comparing Countries

2011-10-24T11:15:00.000+01:00

Thanks to Charlotte for this link.

Compare life in different countries with

http://www.ifitweremyhome.com

Great blog from Russell Lewis

2011-10-14T10:20:00.001+01:00

Very excited about this blog from Russell Lewis - worth checking out!

http://russellewis.wordpress.com/

Useful Links from Caroline Ondracek

2011-10-14T09:20:00.000+01:00

Thanks to Caroline for these great links -

Vimeo

Videos (in all languages) - searchable - need to sign-up and add your own videos (free membership)

http://vimeo.com/

Post-IT notes stories:

Mini videos on post-it notes- lots of fun and free

http://www.postitnotestories.com/

Podcasts

Blog for teaching podcasts

http://jteflblog.wordpress.com/podcast-links/

Listenings online

http://www.elllo.org/

Kids resources:

Stories:

Ink-less tales:

http://www.inklesstales.com/stories/index.shtml

Childhood Reading:

http://childhoodreading.com/

Teapot stories:

http://kidsfront.com/rhymes/teapot.html

Picture Books by Dandi Palmer

http://www.dandi.me.uk/

Cartoon- creation:

Toon DOO:

http://www.toondoo.com/

Plenary producer

2011-09-30T15:05:00.006+01:00

Sign up for free to The Guardian's teacher network and you can access loads of ideas/materials including this plenary producer

Student Engagement

2011-09-30T14:46:00.003+01:00

Article and tips on student engagement

Edutopia

Bad language learner?

2011-09-30T12:43:00.003+01:00

Interesting post on Scott Thornbury's blog -

B is for Bad Language Learner

Nik Peachey

2011-09-26T18:04:00.000+01:00

Wonderful site for teachers keen on using technology -

Nik Peachey

Songs

2011-09-26T18:02:00.002+01:00

Lyricstraining is a useful site for using songs in the classroom. YouTube videos are enriched with on-screen activities-

Lyricstraining

Creating stories

2011-09-26T18:00:00.000+01:00

Quick reminder of Storybird - great site for creating online story-books -

Storybird

Video emails

2011-09-26T17:58:00.001+01:00

Get your students sending video emails in English!

MailVU

Text to Phonemes

2011-09-26T17:56:00.003+01:00

Here's a site that transcribes text to phonemic script (thanks for tip, Nik Peachey) -

PhoTransEdit

Jim Scrivener - Iatefl Talk

2011-07-21T11:15:00.002+01:00

Highlights from Jim Scrivener's Iatefl Talk.

Iatefl

2011-07-13T08:34:00.001+01:00

This year's Iatefl talks from the conference in Brighton are now available to download via iTunes -

Iatefl Online

Well done, Magnus!

2011-07-13T08:31:00.003+01:00

Congratulations to IH Milan teacher Magnus Coney for winning lesson-of-the-month on onestopenglish.

Check out the winning lesson plan here - Alien negotiations

The history of English

2011-07-07T14:05:00.002+01:00

A nice series on History of English from the Open University -

Here's part 1

2011-07-07T14:03:00.000+01:00

Here are some sites that you might find useful -

Teachitworld

Open Culture

Teaching teens training Notes

2011-06-15T11:37:00.000+01:00

Last Friday we had the opportunity to summarize our ideas from the last two training sessions we had related to working with teenagers.
We spoke about 3 main topics and brainstormed and discussed them. They are the following:
Ideas from Training
The ideas that were recalled from the training sessions were:
• teacher’s roles and which parts we play within the classroom;
• with teenagers we should remember to personalize, makes things fun, allow students to move around (exercise), offer variety, be inspired and inspire, use competitive games;
• Remember that teenagers learn by example, learn differently to adults or children, prefer activities with immediate gratification;
• Some suggestions to use activities like creating a blog (e.g. for homework); using dvolver (movie making software found online) , creating lesson models to use in future lessons (creating a database) ;
• Remember that it’s important to have a reason for doing something. Teens won’t relate to things that aren’t meaningful to them;
• There was a suggestion made to look into CLIL as a future project and would it interest teens?

Tips and Activities
Many games and activities were suggested:
• Talk to them! They like to discuss different topics like current affairs, politics. They want to share their opinion.
• Use stories, songs, show videos/ film clips and have them write down words or things they see. They can create questions to ask a partner about the video etc. (works nicely with music videos with a storyline);
• Blogs, twitter, social networking sites. How can you use them? Research it!
• Always produce something! Teens need immediate gratification so they need to see what they have achieved within a lesson; projects like “ make a new Olympic sport”;
• Teens love anagrams, language puzzles, riddles;
• Competitive games like writing the longest word of the day, or playing a sentence game in teams where they have to write the longest sentence one word at a time;
• Delegate! Play “you’re the teacher”. Give student role cards with the different phrases you would use (e.g. ask the other students to get their homework out and go through it with them) Let them feel what it’s like to be in your shoes.
• All manner of games: shouting/running/buzz dictation; role-plays and video them; play “IH has got talent”, mime games, back to the board, taboo, tomatoes (e.g. students have to ask one student different questions and all he/she can reply is “tomatoes” – objective is to make the student laugh as quickly as possible.)Grab it game like teens have to touch cards etc as quickly as possible – for younger teens.

Help!
The help brainstorm related to questions or things teacher’s find difficult when dealing with teenagers.
• Dealing with 1 – 1 teenage lessons. How to engage them?
• Self esteem
• Working off-site with large classes
• Differences in levels within a class – mixed ability
• Balancing school program and the IH method – communicative VS grammar oriented at school (many parents don’t see better results at school based on our method even though students engage and start communicating more in English.)
• Classroom management – what tips? Some suggestions were: keeping a good pace in the lesson, using some sort of reward system ( a game at the end),
• Creating project (weekly, monthly, yearly) basis? But hindrances can be having computers available to use in the classroom etc.

Using Technology to Teach Teens

2011-05-16T10:31:00.001+01:00

Here are the slides from Tania's presentation -

La Spagna a Milano

2011-05-16T10:26:00.002+01:00

Until the 22nd May, Milan is hosting an exciting programme of events celebrating Spanish culture -

Check out the website - http://www.laspagnaamilano.it

Thanks, Sonia, for the link!

Different Methods of Teaching English

2011-05-09T15:43:00.005+01:00

Here are the notes from Fiona Ritchie's training session - Thanks, Fiona

The Silent Way

A simple idea for reviewing conditionals is to write a sentence on the board. Then explain to the students that you will now remain silent while they do all the talking.

The activity involves rubbing out one or two words and miming the need for replacements. When students volunteer words, gesture to the other students to see whether they are happy or not with the words. The aim is to form a new sentence.

A topical sentence for last Friday:

If Kate Middleton hadn’t gone to St Andrew’s University she wouldn’t have married Prince William.

‘Grammar Games’ by Mario Rinvolucri has this idea and others using this method.

2^nd activity

Show some pictures of extreme sports and elicit the names.
Draw a smiley and sad face on the board and then point to each pic and by gesture/facial expressions indicate whether or not you would like to do these sports.
Indicate to ss through gesture that you now want them to talk in pairs about the sports.
Draw a timeline on the board and label it ‘now’ on the right hand side and ‘past’ on the left-hand side.
Point to a sport and draw several crosses on the timeline at different points before ‘now’ and put on a questioning face. Elicit question ‘Have you ever been skydiving?’ Indicate to ss to discuss in pairs.

The full lesson plan can be found on http://www.developingteachers.com by searching for the Silent Way. The lesson plan is titled ‘Silence is Golden.’

TBL (Task Based Learning)

This lesson is built around a discussion. The question for discussion is:

Whose parents were the strictest?

Discussion

Hand out questionnaire as below:

When you were a child:

a) Do you think your parents were strict or easy-going?

b) Did they allow you to stay out late at night?

c) Did they let you go on holiday on your own?

d) When you went out did you always have to tell them where you were going?

e) Did you always have to do your homework before supper?

f) Did your parents make you help about the house?

g) Did you have to help in the garden?

h) What jobs did they make you do?

Circulate listening to what the students have to say but don’t correct at this stage. With this method the language is focussed on after the task.

Post-discussion

Nominate a spokesperson from each group to report the findings of their group.

The full lesson plan can be found on http://www.willis-elt.co.uk/documents/1StrictParents_000.doc

Further websites:

http://www.saradavila.com

TBL activities for EFL classrooms

http://www.tblt.net

Here are links to two other methods that always generate discussion amongst teachers. With all the methods you can either use elements or the whole method in your lessons.

Callan Method

http://www.callan.co.uk

http://www.englishhouse.co.uk

Suggestopedia

Youtube clip:

Mobile technology for teaching English

2011-04-19T15:42:00.000+01:00

Tips on using apps, mobiles, etc.,

http://mobileesl.blogspot.com/

Theconsultants-e

2011-04-19T15:39:00.002+01:00

Technology tips for teachers - http://www.theconsultants-e.com/resources/ToolsResources/default.aspx

Meegenius

2011-04-19T15:03:00.001+01:00

Books that read themselves - http://www.meegenius.com

Gates Foundation

2011-04-19T14:40:00.001+01:00

Here's an interesting article from the Gates Foundation on how to improve teaching in the U.S.

http://www.gatesfoundation.org/united-states/Pages/americas-teachers-report.aspx

Guest Post: Inès Buzzi

2011-04-18T15:40:00.002+01:00

Here's a guest post from IH teacher, Inès Buzzi - Thanks, Inès!

I wanted to share the following websites:

www.worldbusinessculture.com

They've got articles about 39 countries and you can take a cultural compatibility test!

Another interesting site is:

www.theymightbegiants.com

This is an American band who do music for adults and kids. Their kids songs and videos are great and very educational. They could be used for teaching CLIL (they've got an album called "Here comes science")

Hope that's useful!

Guest Post: Daniela Conforti

2011-04-18T15:28:00.002+01:00

Hi Mike

I've a couple of websites/videos that might be of interest.

Guest post from IH teacher, Daniela Conforti - Thanks for the tips, Daniela!

I've found a good pronunciation practice video about the past tense of regular verbs:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rL2hsOsW28

You probably already know this site but this particular game is a hit with my kids:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/games/shows/#/lb/alphablocks/alphablocksgames

Finally, I did a lesson last week on Technology and language related to 'ability' (Lesson 7A F2F intermediate). I complemented it with this, which worked really well:

http://www.onestopenglish.com/business/business-tasks/ability-and-skill/156899.article

Daniela

Mystery!

2011-04-18T15:22:00.002+01:00

Riddlenow.com offers some murder mysteries that you can get your students to solve!

OUP Primary Conference 2011

2011-04-18T15:19:00.002+01:00

Here are the slides from Louise's presentation -

OUP Primary Conference 2011

2011-04-18T14:55:00.001+01:00

Here are the slides from Kate's presentation -

The internet for Teacher Development

2011-04-04T14:43:00.003+01:00

Here are the slides from my training session on Friday -

And the videos...

Learning Styles

2011-03-28T18:37:00.002+01:00

Here are some links that follow on from the training session on learning styles -

David A. Kolb model

http://www.haygroup.com/leadershipandtalentondemand/enhancing/kolb.aspx

http://www.businessballs.com/kolblearningstyles.htm

Sternberg-Wagner Thinking Styles Inventory

http://www.ldrc.ca/projects/tscale/

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myers-Briggs_Type_Indicator

http://www.myersbriggs.org/

Howard Gardner - Multiple Intelligences

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Gardner

http://goodworktoolkit.org/

http://www.ldrc.ca/projects/miinventory/miinventory.php

Storytime with Magnus

2011-03-16T09:34:00.001+01:00

Here are the tips from the "Storytime with Magnus" training session -

Pre-story activities

· Story dominoes-work in groups with set of face down pictures relating to story you are going to tell. Ss turn over pictures one at a time and use it to tell own version of story. Also good for inspiring Ss’ own stories.

· Sow one picture, Ss guess story.

· Give title, Ss gues story.

· Give title, Ss ask questions and reconstruct story in groups. Works best if they write questions to you, you write replies (if question is grammatically correct, otherwise send back! See Teaching Unplugged “Paper Interviews”)

· Pre teach vocab.

· Ss brainstorm vocab that might come up after you tell them plot or title.

· Ss guess order of pictures or words that you give them.

· Dictate beginning.

· Give comprehension questions, Ss guess story.

· Discussion topic based on subject of story (historical background, what would you do, similar stories etc)

· Listen to a song (maybe with activities), tell your students that the song will feature in your story and ask them to predict how… it could just be on the radio in the background.

· Watch a film clip, students predict what happens next, then you tell the story of the film.

· Nothing! Say “I’m going to tell you a story”

Activities to do during the story

Mime/TPR
Sound effects
Arrange pictures
Tick off words they hear
Stand when they hear certain word/type of word
Draw pictures
Ss hold up their word/picture
Stop, ask Ss what happens next.
Ss make story more exciting (There was a big house “No, it was a huge house!” etc)
Create a title
Tell beginning and end, Ss make up middle.
Cooperative storytelling-Ss give ideas. (He looked out of the window and saw a… “A tiger!”)
Stop, Ss do dialogue with partner. (“Steve walked into the restaurant and saw his wife sitting with his best friend…” Then Ss in pairs role play.
Nothing!

Post story activities

Re-tell story.
Re-tell story using pictures/key words from previous activities.
Re-tell the story to 3 people- first with the notes, then with just keywords, then with nothing.
Re-tell story to partner with 3 changes, partner must spot them.
Tell the story to only half the class (group A), group A have to re-tell the story to group B. Group B then answers some questions about the story, were they told it correctly by group A?
Elicit particular grammar point (e.g. should/would/could have for a story about a disastrous situation, future forms for what happens next, 3^rd conditional for alternate outcomes etc)
Alternate ending.
Hot seat a character.
Make a photo story
Role play between 2 characters for a specific or new scene.
Tell story in different tense (e.g. present simple/cont, happening right now)
Tell own similar story.
Make into comic strip or storyboard for film.
Write blurb.
Re-tell story from different point of view.
Re-tell to different partners, get 4 minutes first time, then 3 minutes, then 2 minutes-improves fluency).
Good 1-2-1 activity. When student tells you a story/anecdote, you tell it back to them with corrections/improvements, they tell it back to you, repeat as necessary. Then write up for homework.
Ss make own comprehension questions to ask partner (answer may not have been in story, partner uses imagination!)
Good 1-2-1 activity. Find a way to record Ss as they re-tell story, or tell own story. Then they put it in writing and find mistakes (easier to pick up if they see them, good for improving speaking) then re-tell or rewrite.
Rewrite or tell story in different genre.
Poem/song version
Use vocab, grammatical structures/collocations in own story.
Design book cover.
Tell the beginning and the end… students make up the middle.
Higher-order thinking questions-What if…? Etc

Getting Ss to write their own stories

Same title, different genre for each group.
Give the beginning.
Think of character and place or problem, story starts here.
Tell a boring short story (“A man walked down the street. He saw something. He picked it up. He went home.”. Ss make it more exciting.
Use random pictures/words to inspire a story.
Write a sequel to a real story.
Use strange newspaper headlines. (could also try writing story based on the alternate meaning of newspaper headlines with unintentional puns e.g. “Police found safe under bed” Ss write story about cowardly police hiding under a bed)
Translate local folk tales/legends.
Historical events.
Own anecdotes.
Current events.
Write the story of an object (1^st or 3^rd person POV)

Other random bits and bobs

Reading aloud is beneficial for lots of students, identifying natural pauses, intonation etc without worrying about what they’re saying, so gives them confidence.
Look at typical features of a story-structure, showing not telling (“He smashed his hand on the table” rather than “He was angry”), more nouns and verbs than adjectives etc
Get Ss to tell their stories rather than reading them aloud (first bullet point refers to stories you give them). More interesting for audience and more real. Could look at techniques/examples-storytelling is becoming a popular art form, lots of stuff on Youtube etc.
With younger learners, presenting it nicely will motivate them e.g. the folding book with pictures, or as a cartoon strip.
YL groups, learn poem to recite as class. Good for intonation, rhythm, they feel like they can speak English.
Class stories-one sentence at a time.
Lower level creative writing-see “Writing creatively in another language” by Gill James on www.tefl.net (lesson plans area).

Classroom Management

2011-03-14T17:47:00.002+01:00

Who dares take the behaviour management challenge?

Play this game with TeachersTV - Watch the unruly kids and decide what behaviour management strategy you would employ!

http://www.teachers.tv/behaviourchallengeprimary

The Khan Academy

2011-03-14T17:42:00.001+01:00

Using video to turn education on its head -

Teaching Spanish

2011-03-14T17:36:00.002+01:00

Here are a couple of links with useful resources for teaching Spanish. Gracias, Sonia!

http://www.ihes.com/bcn/spanish/learn.html (sito IH Barcelona con materiale online)

www.audiria.com (per imparare con audiotextos)

Instant Book

2011-03-14T17:33:00.001+01:00

Thanks to Louise for following link - How to make an instant book!

St Patrick's Day

2011-03-14T17:30:00.000+01:00

Here are some St Patrick's links:

http://www.theholidayspot.com/patrick/
Lots of St Patrick's Day material

http://www.howstuffworks.com/saint-patrick.htm

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Forest/8483/stpatclass.html

http://www.historychannel.com/exhibits/stpatricksday/main.html
The history of the day from The History Channel

http://www.atozteacherstuff.com/themes/stpatricksday.shtml
Lesson plans

http://www.hylit.com/info/StPatrick/
A short history & links.

Free Resources for teachers

2011-02-22T16:11:00.002+01:00

The Guardian has opened up a vast amount of lesson plans/materials on its site http://teachers.guardian.co.uk/teacher-network/

Although the materials are for UK state school teachers, I'm sure there are lots of useful things for us!

It's quick, easy and free to register.

Let me know if you find any gems - dos.sandonato@ihmilano.it

Lexical Soup

2011-02-22T16:06:00.003+01:00

Here are the slides from my training session on teaching chunks and collocations.

Mike

Babies and language

2011-02-22T16:01:00.001+01:00

Here's a recent talk from TED

Making grammar fun!

2011-02-22T15:58:00.001+01:00

Here are some of the ideas the teachers in San Donato came up with for making grammar fun -

Relative Clauses –

Turn the Headline into an article

Never-ending sentence

Backs to the board

Taboo

Stories

Articles

Thai Box (left punch for ‘the’ right kick for ‘a’, etc.)

Expanding Headlines

Past Simple v Present Perfect

Biography of a celeb – compare dead v live celeb

Find someone who

Crazy History for an Old person

Swapping timelines

Countable/Uncountable

Food flashcards

Things to take on an expedition

‘I went shopping and I bought…’

Web Clips

2011-01-12T16:02:00.001+01:00

Jamie Keddie's website Tefl.clips has become lessonstream.org

Check out the great lessons

DOGME

2011-01-12T15:58:00.002+01:00

Here's a link to Scott Thornbury's talk from the DOS Conference -

(You'll need to use school login)

Six Big Ideas and One Little One

Great Resources for Kids

2011-01-12T15:31:00.002+01:00

Here's a link to Nik Peachey's great presentation at the DoS Conference.

Challenges of getting technology used with young learners

Here's a link to sites mentioned - tinyurl.com/354enma

Should We Translate?

2011-01-12T15:26:00.003+01:00

This week's ELT chat on Twitter was all about whether we should use/allow translation in the classroom.

Here's a link to Guy Cook's presentation at the DoS Conference on the very same topic -

Guy Cook - Coming back in from the Cold: Translation in Language Teaching

Iatefl Besig

2010-12-16T09:39:00.001+01:00

Catch up on the presentations from Iatefl Besig - http://www.youtube.com/user/IATEFLBESIG

Here's an example -

Twitter

2010-12-16T09:35:00.001+01:00

Not sure whether or not Twitter is for you?

Perhaps this 60-second video can convince you otherwise -

Sir Ken Robinson

2010-12-16T09:32:00.003+01:00

You might know Sir Ken Robinson from his inspiring talks on the TED website.

There is also a good selection of talks and interviews on Sir Ken's website - http://sirkenrobinson.com/skr/watch

Young Learner Resources

2010-12-16T09:22:00.002+01:00

Here's a list of young learner resources from Teacher Reboot Camp

http://teacherbootcamp.edublogs.org/2010/12/10/lets-play-20-sites-for-young-learners/

Ho, ho, ho

2010-11-29T15:36:00.002+01:00

Thanks, Nicky, for this great Christmas Link!

http://www.northpole.com/

Bonjour!

2010-11-26T17:39:00.001+01:00

Thanks to Babeth for this link!

A great help for anyone learning French!

http://jeudeloie.free.fr

Ken Wilson Interview: Animating Your Lessons

2010-11-23T15:57:00.000+01:00

Best of...

2010-11-23T15:54:00.001+01:00

Larry Ferlazzo does it again.

Here's his best of 'best of' lists for English Language Learners:

http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2010/11/23/the-best-the-best-lists-for-english-language-learners-2010/

The Do Lectures

2010-11-23T15:51:00.000+01:00

Another source of inspiration - The Do Lectures

http://www.dolectures.com/

Here's an example of one of the lectures. This one is from Getting Things Done's David Allen

Are men the weaker sex?

2010-11-23T10:59:00.003+01:00

Are men the weaker sex? Listen to this discussion from the BBC's 6 Minute English to find out!

6 Minute English

Reading in class

2010-11-19T13:38:00.001+01:00

Interesting article on Ken Wilson's blog - http://kenwilsonelt.wordpress.com/2010/10/14/reading-aloud-in-class-is-a-complete-waste-of-time-discuss/

Is reading aloud in class a complete waste of time?

Great English Literature Resources

2010-11-15T14:50:00.002+01:00

Many thanks to Nathan Grimm from SR Education Group who sent me a link to an article they have published with lost of great English literature resources covering the Medieval through Postmodern eras on Guide to Online Schools.

This may be a big help to anyone supporting secondary school students here in Italy.

http://www.guidetoonlineschools.com/library/english-literature-resources

IH Milan Conference - Russell Stannard Presentation

2010-11-15T12:56:00.003+01:00

For those of you who couldn't make our conference, Russell Stannard has posted his presentation to his website -

http://www.teachertrainingvideos.com/ihMilanoTalk/

Loads of great tools you can use in your teaching.

Student Speaking Sites

2010-11-15T12:51:00.003+01:00

Thanks again to Russell Stannard for these tips - Vocaroo & MailVu - two sites that get students speaking away from the classroom.

http://www.vocaroo.com/

http://mailvu.com/

Agian, let Russell guide you through the two sites - http://www.teachertrainingvideos.com/speaking/index.html

Lyrics Training

2010-11-15T12:42:00.002+01:00

Thanks to Russell Stannard for this great tip - Lyrics training http://www.lyricstraining.com/ An amazing site which allows you to do language work through songs.

Here's a link to Russell's website teaching you how to use this site - http://www.teachertrainingvideos.com/lyrics/index.html

Tania's Top Tips

2010-11-02T17:11:00.002+01:00

Many thanks to Tania for the following list of websites that you might find useful... Keep them coming!

www.thepotters.com

www.esolcourses.com

www.musicalenglishlessons.org

www.usingenglish.com

www.pbs.org/inthemix

http://moviesegmentstoassessgrammargoals.blogspot.com

www.ukstudentlife.com

www.eslprof.com

www.eslflow.com

www.eltworld.net

www.worldfactsandfigures.com

www.tourdumonde.com related to travel or youtube video: Le tour du monde en 80 seconds

www.go-english.co.uk

www.developingteachers.com (lesson plan index)

Cheers, Tania!

TED talk

2010-11-02T17:08:00.000+01:00

Interesting talk from TED

Induction - Technology

2010-09-29T08:58:00.002+01:00

Here are the slides for the session on technology -

Quizlet

2010-07-05T14:41:00.001+01:00

Quizlet is a site that lets you create flashcards to help students learn vocab.

Quizlet

iPhone/iPod Touch App

2010-05-31T15:04:00.001+01:00

If you have an iPhone or iPod Touch, have a look at the new apps from the British Council.

Available from the iTunes store.

Movie Clips

2010-05-29T10:05:00.002+01:00

You no longer have to spend ages searching for that movie clip you need for your lesson.

MovieClips has a great selection of film extracts divided by actor, mood, occasion...even props.

Pecakucha

2010-05-24T17:14:00.002+01:00

Pecakucha comes from Japan - People give presentations using 20 slides and are allowed to speak for 20 seconds per slide.

It might be a useful activity to do in the classroom.

You can also find some real presentations at - http://www.pecha-kucha.org/

Thanks, Chris Cattaneo, for the tip -

Vicky's Training

2010-05-24T17:12:00.000+01:00

Thanks for your top teenager tips, Taylor!

Charlotte's Rods

2010-05-24T17:09:00.000+01:00

Here are the slides from Charlotte's training session.

Thanks, Charlotte -

The World Cup

2010-05-05T08:11:00.006+01:00

WORLD CUP 2010

Here's an update on some useful resources for the World Cup.

The IHWO resource centre will soon be up and running. In preparation, there is a discussion thread on the site all about the World Cup. Go to http://www.ihonlinetraining.net/modern-languages/ and set up an account to look at the tips.

Neil McMahon has set up an IHWO World Cup predictions game on a website.

http://www.tipschallenge.com

First you need to register and then you need to join the private league - the code for the International House World League is 97383 (see video below)

Other sites -http://www.soccerlingua.net

http://www4.southafrica.net/2010/

http://languagecaster.com/

http://www.project2010.co.za

http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/index.html

www.learntodiski.com/

http://premierskills.britishcouncil.org

www.kickitout.org

www.homelessworldcup.org

www.elllo.org

www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGLzsGgKfc4

Poetry

2010-05-04T15:52:00.002+01:00

Here's a lesson plan from Teachers' TV - Poetry Alive

http://www.teachers.tv/videos/38046

Poem might be too tricky for our students but you might find some useful techniques for using poetry with kids or adults.

Training - Varieties of English

2010-04-16T15:14:00.002+01:00

Here are the slides from the Training session -

Varieties of English on Prezi

Zooming Presentations

2010-04-10T09:19:00.002+01:00

Creat great zooming online presentations!

Prezi

Meeting on Prezi

Tom Peters

2010-04-10T09:15:00.002+01:00

Tom Peters has a series of videos on YouTube addressing some provocative business issues -

http://www.youtube.com/user/LittleBigThings

TED Talk

2010-04-10T09:13:00.001+01:00

This TED talk is really worth watching -

St George's Day

2010-03-31T16:38:00.002+01:00

It will soon be St George's Day.

Many thanks to Victoria Taylor for the following link -

http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/st_georges_day.htm

You'll find a whole range of St George-themed activities that you could use in your lessons!

Thanks, Vicky.

Mark's training Session

2010-03-09T15:11:00.001+01:00

Here are the slides from Mark's training session - 5th February

St Patrick's Day

2010-03-08T17:50:00.001+01:00

It's St Patrick's Day next Wednesday - Here's a link to some St Patrick's Day activities.

Education.Com

Children's Library

2010-03-08T16:26:00.001+01:00

Here's a link to Children's Library

ClassTools

2010-03-08T16:10:00.004+01:00

The ClassTools website has a lot to offer -

On screen timer - with dramatic music options
Make Q&A flashcards and play games with them
Create Timelines
Lights Out Game

Click here for full screen version

ClassTools

Kerpoof

2010-03-08T16:07:00.001+01:00

With Kerpoof, YL students can make pictures, movies and more.

Let me know what you think.

Kerpoof

Slide Share

2010-03-02T11:32:00.003+01:00

Slide Share is a site that allows you to upload PowerPoint presentations. It's a great resource for business teaching.

There are lots of amazing presentations on there and it's really worth a look.

SlideShare

Lesson Plan Sites

2010-03-02T11:25:00.000+01:00

Two sites offering free lesson plans -

Listen-a-minute

ESL Holiday Lessons

Crocodoc

2010-03-02T11:23:00.001+01:00

Crocodoc is a site that allows you to collaborate on PDFs, Word documents and PowerPoint slides. You upload the document and others can add sticky notes and highlight things on the document.

Let me know if you use it with your students.

Crocodoc

Top Site

2010-03-02T11:18:00.002+01:00

Top Site is a quick way of finding useful sites. All you do is type in a topic and it will find the top 10 sites on the web about that topic.

TopSite

Short Business Videos

2010-03-02T11:09:00.003+01:00

To promote his new book, Little Big Things, business guru Tom Peters has released a series of videos on YouTube. The short videos cover topics such as

Don't use standardized forms
On thoughtfulness
Strategy
Leadership

You may be able to use them in high-level business classes. Here's an example and let me know how you use them -

Using Songs

2010-03-01T17:17:00.002+01:00

Thanks to @ozge on Twitter for the tip - here's a site that will search a song video and the lyrics and display both on screen so you can sing-a-long. Maybe of use for your lessons, but certainly great for parties (ask Jennifer McShane for karaoke party tips).

Let me know what it's like.

Tubeoke